Deal breaker for a forum

[Deleted member 49125]

What are some deal breakers for a forum? The forums you had to leave for one reason or another. Regardless of how long you were a member.

Deal breakers for me:
Public humiliation. I was on a forum & Staff was ridiculing another member, even long after that member had left.
Too much swearing. I don’t mind a few swear words; I do it myself from time to time. I just don’t want “Sailor talk”.
Not moderated well. These too I’ve left. Where spam runs the show & Staff could care less.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Deal breakers for me would be poor management, if the forum has lots of spam on it and there's not a staff member in site then it's safe to say that forum is probably been abandoned and not maintained. I also will leave a forum if staff is harassing members, especially if they continue talking about them after they left or if there's a staff member who lets the power get to their head and get away with it.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Staff who are quick to discipline. Power trips are not for me.

Inactive owners get on my nerves, especially when they send you a lot of emails and messages begging for activity but are never active themselves. Lead by example.

Forums with more ads than I can handle. If ads are taking over the whole screen, I'll run as fast as I can, LOL.

 

[MrDawn]

A deal breaker for me is little activity, weak layout, bad advertisement and promotion of the forum, and lack of leadership.

 

[Shortie_]

I am quite happy to spend time on anyone forum and help them by being an active member as best I can be but there are deal breakers and it's not too often I come across them but if I do, I will leave the forum, and never look back.

These deal breakers are bullying, lack of activity to the point where you are the only one posting, bad moderation, staff abusing their power, and staff belittling and humiliating members of the forum.

 

[Nomad]

I had to leave a forum, even though I was being paid for posting, when the moderator started trolling. I cannot stand the humiliation

 

[Cory]

A lot of things:

• Terrible theme.
• Little to no activity.
• Controlling staff members.
• A lot of drama.
• Using your personal information against you somehow.
• A lot of spam and trolling.

 

[zappaDPJ]

The only forum I can recall leaving for quite so time is Xenforo's customer forum.

I'm very thick skinned but I found the style of moderation there to be unacceptable, promoting an us and them environment which is not something I'd expect from a professional support forum.

 

[Page]

Little to no activity.

That's what makes it hard, I'm the same I do not join if it's lacking in activity yet again if all people think like that then the site will never grow. The end of the day needs people to help by joining and keeping it alive.

 

[Cory]

That's what makes it hard, I'm the same I do not join if it's lacking in activity yet again if all people think like that then the site will never grow. The end of the day needs people to help by joining and keeping it alive.

I guess "little to no activity" should be translated to "little to no activity over a certain time period". If a forum is continuously inactive, then there's not really a point in staying active yourself, unless you like to talk to yourself.

 

[Page]

unless you like to talk to yourself.

I do that in real-life 😛

 

[Cory]

I do that in real-life 😛

We all do! 😀

 

[Thomasss]

I'm very thick skinned but I found the style of moderation there to be unacceptable, promoting an us and them environment which is not something I'd expect from a professional support forum.

This was partially why I chose to leave XenForo and convert to IPB.

I’d have to agree with almost everyone here, a bad sense of community and “power trips” are the main reason why I don’t join, or leave. Also, a bad UI is also huge on my list of reasons to run from a forum.

 

[John]

Unless it's inactive and ugly, I don't mind joining. If the forum is toxic in some way, I'll just not post and/or leave the forum entirely.

 

[Gizmo]

When the owner and the staff are too serious and can't have a laugh and have fun.

 

[Jay™]

I like to have fun as well that's what it's about but when I go to a forum and the owners or admins are just plain rude it's goodbye for me.
(after I post my thoughts) as I have no problem voicing my opinion 🙂

 

[Deleted member 17779]

For me it would have to be....
- People who go around bullying others and just being plain mean for no reason.
- Too much drama.

 

[Orion Corvus]

One of the biggest turn-offs I have is a bad looking forum. If it is covered in ads (common for free-hosted software), has glitches or a lot of clutter, and / or simply doesn't look good, I will find myself leaving sooner rather than later.